From left: Police Minister Bheki Cele. (Photo: Gallo Images / Jeffrey Abrahams) | Photo: Leila Dougan | EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu. (Photo: Gallo Images / OJ Koloti) 
A total of R180,000 was made in three payments to EFF Chief Whip Floyd Shivambu in 2017 by Sgameka Projects run by his brother Brian Shivambu, and linked to the VBS scandal, according to an affidavit to Parliament by the bank’s liquidators.
These payments should have been disclosed in terms of Parliament’s code of conduct but were not. Parliament’s joint ethics committee on Monday found Shivambu guilty of contravening the code of conduct and sanctioned him with the loss of nine days’ salary.
However, the committee said it was “unable to make a finding” on a 2019 VBS-related complaint against EFF leader Julius Malema.
According to the register of interests on Parliament’s website, Shivambu in 2017 had nothing to disclose and in 2018 only declared soccer tickets from Mamelodi Sundowns and cigars from the Cuban trade ministry.
While the EFF has vocally dismissed its leaders’ involvement in the “VBS heist”, as the 2018 independent investigation report by advocate Terry Motau was titled, the link between the Shivambu brothers emerged in 2021 when the South African Revenue Service slapped Brian Shivambu with a R28.2-million demand for outstanding tax, as Daily Maverick’s Scorpio detailed.
On Monday, DA Chief Whip Siviwe Gwarube welcomed the joint ethics committee’s finding, even if it was four years in the making and cold comfort for the Venda pensioners who lost their life savings.
“It demonstrates that there can never be one set of rules for some and exemptions for others. We are members of Parliament, accountable to the public. That is why it is important that we disclose and declare all financial and non-financial interests. This is for accountability and transparency.
“Shivambu’s failure to declare monies received through VBS cast doubt on all public statements he has made about this matter. We trust that law enforcement agencies will be reinvigorated in their hunt for the truth.”
But Shivambu’s penalty is substantially less than the maximum possible fine — the loss of a month’s salary, which can be linked to a suspension that runs for a month.
Other penalties for transgressing the code include a reprimand in the House, receiving counselling and apologising.
And that’s what Police Minister Bheki Cele must do — apologise in the House — for his outburst at a July 2022 SAPS imbizo aimed at anti-crime lobbyist Ian Cameron.
a finger, Cele said “shut up”, “don’t provoke me” and “sit down and listen” before ordering Cameron out of the meeting.
That was conduct unbecoming for a member of Parliament.
“Following deliberations, the committee noted that the Member [Cele] in his written representation did not specifically address the incident, i.e., that he is alleged to have shouted, ‘shut up’ at the complainant. However, the video footage taken on the day, which was played in the committee, shows that the Member was irate and that he did shout at the complainant,” said Monday’s joint ethics committee statement on this finding.
The committee also found four MPs guilty of not submitting their 2022 disclosure forms. ANC MPs Portia Mamorobela, Tyotyo James, Nomsa Kubheka and Sibusiso Kula were sanctioned with the loss of 20 days’ salary.
All joint ethics committee findings and sanctions must now go to the House, which must approve the penalties before they take effect. DM